you have his resonate in front of you -- his resume in front of you. >> i am the san francisco police department capt and director of homeland security. we were notified very recently from the chief there have been some changes to route the police department. one of them obviously impact the sfpuc. he has asked myself and captain erlich to switch commands. i will be moving over and overseeing the sex crimes unit, the child abuse and exploitation unit, the missing persons unit, and along with those a number -- working with a number of advocates for children. this is a very sensitive type of investigation to be conducted. we are putting cases together

against those predators who would prey on our most defenseless population -- our children. i am looking forward to this future assignment, but it is bittersweet. i want to thank each of you. mr. harrington through all of the managers come up field personnel -- all of the managers through field personnel. everyone was wonderful. the vast and complicated system i was requested to oversee in establishing some of the security protocols for homeland security were immense. i built what had been established and took it to the next level. john will be moving forward with the next level as well. i truly want to thank you. the sfpuc should be very proud

of its employees -- what dedication i have seen through all levels. very dedicated. everyone bent over backwards to exist me whenever -- to assist me whenever i made requests. i am always at the service of the sfpuc, wherever i served in the police department. thank you. >> my name is john erlich. [applause] i have then a captain in the police department since 1997, employed in the police department since 1980. i have experience in city government. you have my resume in front of you. i have had some experience with the puc when i ran the combined charity campaign. puc was one of the department's contributing to the campaign. i already had some exposure. i look forward to working with all of you.

it is going to be interesting. thank you. [applause] >> captainin -- in a short time with us, you have won a lot of parts of country. thank you very much. there is also an update on the incident in san bruno thursday night. the director of water supply and treatment was very involved, as long -- as well as other members of the organization. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am david briggs with the water supply treatment commission. -- treatment division. the response to last thursday's explosion by the puc staff was amazing. it was immediate and multifaceted. there was certainly a response by the fire department here and at the airport. that was very rapid and throw.

puc staff or the first ones on the scene. some of us live in san bruno, 20 to 30 staff. they are our neighbor and wholesale customers. within minutes of the explosion, we knew exactly what was happening. staff at the tracy water treatment plant were only 2 miles away. staff there felt, heard, and saw the explosion. we have staff in the watershed that live half a mile away that were sent immediately. once we pinpointed the location, we quickly determined our system was okay. that was the first thing we were concerned with -- our own ability to keep delivering water. we verified that within minutes and then made ourselves available for mutual aid. obviously, the situation was very chaotic and real time on thursday night. our activities in the first few hours after the incident were

four fire support. our first issue was making sure san bruno has water. they get all their water from us. they do have some ground water wells, but in the upper elevations it is all from puc. obviously, the explosion damaged their distribution system and their ability to get water to the firefighters. we were making sure we had water delivered to the rest of san bruno so they could get water to the area. we also brought water up by truck, which we had immediately available. if you saw the video, you saw the helicopters ferrying water over and dropping it on the fire, which was literally the only thing they could do in the first few hours after the incident. the water was all coming from san andreas reservoir. friday, we switched to recovery support for san bruno. we sent plumbing cruise up to the area to the devastated area of and viewed the crater where

the explosion was to aid the investigation for pg&e, who were on the scene. we speak to san bruno stuff every day and make ourselves available to any other support they need. i can give you more details on that and what is happening on the ground now if you care to hear. the short story is we are making ourselves available for any additional help. it is also important to realize we were available with more humanitarian support. we have water trucks that are always ready to go in san francisco and on the peninsula that were ready. they were not needed. the impacted area relative to the mutual aid response was small. there was plenty of mutual aid available and so our water trucks were not needed. but they were ready in case there were called upon. the other issue the general management wanted to address was the location of the pg&e pipeline, which is on

everybody's mind right now. we are in a good position to know where pg&e's pipelines are relative to our own assets to assess vulnerability. we have meticulous records of all the permits and easements granted to pg&e from us, the land owner. we were there first in almost every situation. we have 700 easements and permits granted to pg&e in san mateo, santa clara, and alameda 0 county alone. i cannot speak to other areas. 700 easements in areas where pg&e facilities of any type are on our land. 12, we have already determined, are 12-inch diameter pipe lines carrying natural gas. we have already narrow the 700 down to 12. we will begin investigation to

was the crossing is like, how well the construction was done, what kind of access rights we have. we will begin to thoroughly worked through all of those areas where pg&e pipelines across our infrastructure and will have this resolved within a week. the larger liability picture relates to our own assets. we own and operate a large water transmission system in an urban area with high-pressure pipelines. we have five dams that are upstream of populated areas in the bay area. staff are continuously evaluating not only the vulnerability of those assets to their ability to deliver water, but also public safety. it is a continuous effort. we are making no greater statement right now then investing with the wisa program and the large capital investments. in parallel to that, we have a

thorough asset management program which is well documented. it houses all of our assets, the condition they are in, the maintenance programs used to take care of them, including the corrosion program, which has been getting a lot of news. when any deficiencies are detected in our regular inspections, that feeds directly into our cip so we can address that deficiency. i have asked myself many times in the last five days, what would happen if the public, the media, or my peers in the water industry were to come into my office and look at my documents for my inspection records, how do maintenance, how i take care of things, and whether i am on top of things, because this is exactly what happened to pg&e. i feel very comfortable. we are very much on top of things. >> thank you, mr. briggs.

commissioner caen: i do have a question. the pipes that are on our land. can we demand of pg&e to inspect them? >> that would probably come down to the terms in the easement, which is probably where our legal rights would be housed. it is common in easements and permits that one of the stipulations is that they do nothing that harms our ability to deliver water. there is probably something in there that could get us to the front of the line. everybody is asking, wherever the lines are, that they be inspected in case they have the same issue. we do have the ability to inspect them to some extent our cells, and possibly excavate and look at pipelines. -- to inspect them to some extent ourselves, and possibly excavate and look at pipelines.

i have all the records in my office of what is already documented. as you know, the program is very active and things are very fluid right now. i will circle back if i see anything out there i do not know about right now that we can look at as well. the short answer is there is some ability to get answers quickly. commissioner caen: i think that is very important and i think we should move forward on that, to look at the records that exist now in terms of the inspections that have been done. why should we spend our money and our time inspecting their pipes, in light of what has happened? i think that would be a reasonable request that they inspect what is on our property. >> as you know, the california puc has licensed to do inspections. they have to prioritize. the question is how we get to

the front of that line in the priority of what they inspect. commissioner ellis: can you talk about what you see as the longer-term water to support san bruno needs and what role we will continue to play? >> over the weekend, at san bruno's primary concern was to take care of the power lines first. there were power lines that were down. that was a dangerous condition to every person on the ground. then they cleaned up the sewer lines. that was the next level of priority for public health and safety. what the city of san bruno has done is essentially isolated the devastated area for the water distribution standpoint. it is completely isolated at this point. there is no water needed in those areas. there are no homes. there is no use. they have isolated the area and cut a chunk out of their distribution session -- distribution pattern. it could take years for them to

rebuild. in the open hills, there are still open lots from 1991. as homes begin to get rebuilt, they will go in parallel and rebuild the distribution system. we are making ourselves available to help them, but it is not an immediate need. president crowley: anything else? i know you probably possess the answer to this. given the fact that this blast happened, that it did not seismically change our configuration of piping down there, making sure we are not having destruction with leaks or anything else -- we are going to the system as we speak. >> one thing we can immediately check remotely is all of our system pressures in all of our system. there was not even a ripple reflected in the system. the infrastructure we have is the line at that the north

coast county water district -- and 8 inch line roughly a quarter mile away. all is fine. all checked out. our closest matches -- major transmission line is 1 mile away. we did not detect anything. commissioner ellis: as far as emergency response, i am guessing our ability to respond so quickly is just that we are practicing and have things documented as far as how to respond to these types of things immediately. can you talk a little bit about that? >> we drill all the time. there is always after action reports that are put together so we learn from things that did not go quite as planned. once or twice a year, there is a drill of some kind for emergency response, whether it is in the watershed or some type of event. in this particular event, it is always amazing to me to witness house staff know what to do. it is one of the most satisfying

things i have in my job. it was second nature. we know the people at san bruno. our maintenance guys know they're maintenance guys. they know who to call. there is not a situation where we have to go through an intermediate your -- an intermediary. we knew the guys trying to figure out how where water was going. we called that guy and asked if we could help him. it is proximity and knowledge of our customers. we know many of our customers' distribution systems as well as they do. we are well-trained and well positioned to provide help like this. >> thank you very much. >> i would like very much at the end of this session to give a moment of silence for the families of san bruno who have been devastated by this

disaster. thank you. >> the next item is on the agenda. >> commissioners, good afternoon. i will be brief. i want to update you on a few different topics. the packet for today's meeting included the latest update on our wsip change orders. i wanted to point out i ask for a change in format to that report so it is a little more comprehensive. we now have one table that summarizes change orders associated with cost and one for those associated with schedule. i also asked that we differentiate between approved, pending, and potential change orders. i think it is a little more comprehensive. i would welcome your comments if

there are things you would like to see in there that are not currently in there. please let me know. we can always provide more information. on the cost side, i wanted to highlight the fact that with all the ongoing construction contracts we are currently at a 1.5% of our total contingency has been used. it looks good, but we are still early on some of our larger projects. i encourage you to look at that table and give me any comments you might have. annual reports -- we did issue our recent annual report on september 1 to meet state requirements follo. following that report, there was some feedback which led us to add a section to the report. we will be reissuing that report if not late this week early next week. the revision will be provided to you and will also be posted on

our website. i wanted to take the opportunity to give you advance notice on some challenges we are encountering on the two construction contracts for the bay division pipeline no. 5 project. this is a very challenging project because are building a major pipeline in an urban area with a narrow right of way. i mentioned in the previous meeting that on the peninsula side we were having to deal with a few archaeological sites that required we micro tunnel under those sites. we have encountered contaminated ground water on that segment of the peninsula. contaminated ground water is also an issue on the east bay side, where we have an alignment close to the sfc site. we are having to deal with treating that groundwater to greater levels to be able to

discharge as planned. on the east bay side, we also had to change the alignments of a micro tunneling operation when we encountered an underground and derriere on a crossing of the union pacific railroad. this will result in cost increases. i will be coming to you if not next meeting than the next couple of meetings with a request to increase the construction contract, the cost of these construction contracts because of these field conditions. i wanted to point out that because of the large cost savings that we had because of the low bids, there is money in these projects to be able to cover those costs. but i wanted to give you advance notice before i come before you with those agenda items.

i also wanted to talk about the three projects in october. those are three key regional projects, the lower crystal springs dam, pipeline number two replacement project, as well as the herridge receive long-term project improvements. those will all come in october -- as well as the harry tracy long-term project improvements. there is the san joaquin pipeline system. that contract was advertised earlier in september and is in our view at the end of the month. i want to remind you that we do have a groundbreaking event for the tunnel on systema 24, and we hope that all of you can join us. president crowley: questions?

commissioner: i have a question dealing with calendar korea. does that go to the planning commission first? -- i have a question dealing with calendar in -- calendaring. secretary housh: may be having it happen on the 14. you're going to be asked about your schedule and availability. >> but planning will be hearing those on the 12th? secretary housh: their meeting on, i believe, the 14th. >> normally, what we do is be of the planning commission certified the eir, and we wanted to have a special meeting. commissioner: a theoretically

would have approved the other ones. secretary housh: they meet later. it also depends on what time they get there. et might be later in the day. -- it might be later. you also have the 25th ground- breaking.

and you are having a town celebration. the next issue is golden gate. president crowley: pardon me, would you take the microphone and identify yourself? that is all right. yes. >> ms. harris, damanti -- i wanted to specifically herar the cac. is there something in writing that i could take with me? i did not hear it. president crowley: we will ask mr. richard to come up.

i believe you are responsible for the report? to briefly share with this person the carmine report that we have. madam, he is going to briefly report on that for you. thank you, steve. >> you have in your packets a quarterly update report, the first of believe in 2009, the last report to the commission, and it provides the latest information we have. this has been in our system for the last several years. using chloramine, it has resulted in our reduction in the

use of will recall by products. when you use a straight chlorine, it forms disinfection byproducts, which in many cases are considered to be carcinogens, so you still love it efficient defection -- so you still love each fission disinfection. there is additional research going on out there. i believe that report is online.

there is a report from the epa region 9 that would reinforce that we were on the right track in terms of usage in san francisco. secretary housh: i think there may be a problem with the packets. we will make sure you get them. president crowley: generally, these are sent out ahead of time. i can always make sure and bring extra copies. >> madam? >> the 2009 meeting, so the

status on the research, the chloramine? >> we were looking at putting out an rfp looking directly at bat, and no one has proposed that yet, so we're scratching our heads, trying to figure out how to get someone interested in that research.

we're still hoping for more responses. we were looking to see if we had done the questions wrong commissioner -- do the questions wrong. commissioner: -- >> it is a bit of a mystery. usually, you would get some kind of response. president crowley: all right. thank you. madam, we will come back to this agenda item in a moment. now what?

>> it is my understanding there have been reports and other amplaces about the effect of chlorinated water on wildlife, various kinds. i do not see any mention a olcott on wildlife in this brief report, and i want to know why we do not have any, and if we do not, why? secretary housh: as we get back to a regular reports. the next is on golden gate, the building going up. there is a brief update on where we are with that.